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Saudi Arabia 40th in Global IT Report

Published on March 27, 2009 by in General

Saudi Arabia’s rank in the Network Readiness Index has raised from 48th to 40th. The Networked Readiness Index (NRI) is reported annually by the World Economic Forum and it measures the propensity for countries to exploit the opportunities offered by information and communications technology.

Here are some interesting numbers about technology in Saudi Arabia:

  • Mobile telephone subscribers per 100 population, 2007: 114.7. More subscribers than people! Only in Saudi Arabia!
  • Internet users per 100 population, 2007: 25.1. %25 is still a low number. Sure it’s 2007 number, where are the 2008 numbers, STC/CITC?
  • Internet bandwidth (mB/s) per 10,000 population, 2006: 1.2. That’s low and depressing.
  • Ranked 110th on High-tech exports, 2006: No surprise there. Outdated too.
  • Ranked 4th on Total tax rate, 2007: We don’t have taxes.
  • Ranked 31st on Time required to start a business, 2008*: Okay, that is actually impressive.
  • Ranked 74th on Accessibility of digital content: Still new on digital content, slow Internet isn’t helping.
  • Ranked 109th on Number of procedures to enforce a contract, 2008: All that red tape.
  • Ranked 74th on Number of telephone lines, 2007.
  • Ranked 22nd on Mobile telephone subscribers, 2007*: high number of mobile phones, since most are not tied to contracts.
  • Ranked 73rd on Secure Internet servers, 2007*: So much for banks.
  • Ranked 85th on Quality of math and science education: It’s a shame, we need to improve our education system.
  • Ranked 70th on Quality of the educational system.
  • Ranked 71st on Internet access in schools: or even computers.
  • Lack of information on High-speed monthly broadband subscription! Thanks a lot STC, the ONLY land line broadband provider in Saudi Arabia!
  • Ranked 106th on Lowest cost of broadband, 2006: STC, stop being so greedy.
  • Ranked 36th on Cost of mobile telephone call, 2006*: At least mobile calls are cheap.
  • Ranked 3rd on Computer, comm., and other services imports, 2006*: Hardware companies should remember that.
  • Ranked 52nd on Personal computers, 2006.
  • Ranked 65th on Broadband Internet subscribers, 2007*.
  • Ranked 59th on Internet users, 2007*.
  • Ranked 75th on Internet bandwidth, 2006*.

And here is what they wrote about Saudi Arabia:

Thanks to progress made across the board,Saudi Arabia (40th) improves by eight positions with respect to its inaugural rank last year.While it places 45th or higher in seven other categories of the NRI,Saudi Arabia’s situation presents serious shortcomings in terms of individual readiness (79th),notably the quality of the educational system,especially for math and science (85th).As a result,individual usage still remains limited (53rd).

You can read the whole report at The Global Information Technology Report 2008-2009 website.

Related posts:

  1. Saudi Arabia one of the top Middle East adoptors of telecoms services
  2. More on Gitex Saudi Arabia 2005
  3. Google Map Maker still lacks Saudi Arabia, UAE
  4. Saudi Arabia Smart Cities Forum 2007
  5. Microsoft Gulf Developers Conference 2006 – Saudi Arabia, Riyadh

 
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4 Comments  comments 
  • http://blogjihad.com Jihad

    very interesting report. Thanks for posting this.

    I really can’t wait for the other landline/dsl/fiber-optics providers to start doing business. It’s about time we eliminated STC’s monopoly on broadband. Mobily Broadband and ITC’s Wi-Max offerings are a step in the right direction and have proved an alternative to DSL in some cases (although they still haven’t broken the 2Mbps barrier yet). It also appears that Atheeb will start its Wi-Max trials sometime soon.

    I think once the competition starts in the DSL/landline space, we’ll see it growing just like the cell phone industry.

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  • http://www.khaled.us Khaled A.

    Yes, I hope so. The only problem is the lack of information in some areas. We can thank STC for that, they are worried about the million poet content :)

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  • http://www.dj-umaki.com Umair Rashid

    feel like STC is the ruler and everyone else is the followers.

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  • http://www.fdilbar.com Faisal Mohammad

    Well guys, let me increase your knowledge a bit more regarding on-going projects in Saudi Arabia. In few years, you’ll see Saudi Arabia with a different view. 5 Economic cities are being build, which will have world’s best communication technologies, not just communication, but best traffic facilities, best architect designs, and a lot more. The five economic cities will have a ‘HUB’ which will connect all these cities together and everything will be controlled, monitored, and managed electronically. Soon everything will be electronic (i.e. e-Government). Cisco’s latest technology which you usually see in Hollywood Movies, that a man is in front of you but his body is somewhere else (physically not present but semantically there..). King Abdullah is one of their first client who accepted & planned to implement Cisco’s Live TelePresence systems with UC (unified communications) all over the Kingdom which will change the Saudi world ultimately.

    More over… you can see rapid development in Riyadh, roads are being decorated at a fast pace. King Fahad Road is already done. And you can see GREENERY while driving! with fascinating lightning effects!

    in Jeddah, world’s biggest main frame computer is being built which will be completed in next 20 years (approx.), and it will be a part of King Abdullah’s new science university. The main frame computer is named “shaheen” and it’s world’s 8th LARGEST COMPUTER ON EARTH! Global scientists will research at this university as planned. And this is just a start… :)

    More over… Riyadh’s traffic was totally out of control (that’s what the authorities used to say…), but now, current government implemented world’s best traffic systems, some are being developed, some are already up and running. The number of accidents in Riyadh per month was MORE THAN WHOLE WORLD’S NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS per month, which is controlled efficiently in this year. I’ve been with guys who developed the new traffic control systems and integrated them with GPS etc.

    Now whenever an accident occurs, when someone calls the traffic police, the operator sees the caller’s position right away!! & officers are dispatched at the same time as soon the operator confirms! There are few special cars built to test a system which is not yet implemented completely but will be common soon, every police car will have a built-in radar which will act as weapons detection of EVERY KIND… ;) oh yeah… and Saudi Environmentalists are here too!! Government is applying ordinances which are GREEN, traffic police cars which are parked on highways all day got SOLAR ENERGY SAVERS!! you can see these cars on King Fahad Road in Riyadh, already there!…

    everything is happening, but expatriates are no where… in all this development… who developed Saudi with their hard works :)

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